Discrepancias y relaciones entre las medidas de pobreza alimentaria y de carencia alimentaria del Coneval, 2008-2018

Abstract

The objective of the paper is to analyze the relationship between two measures of access to food, both published by Coneval for the states of Mexico every two years. These measures are the percentages of population lacking access to food (A) and with income below the extreme poverty line (I). To achieve this goal, we perform McNemar contrasts, calculate correlation and variation coefficients, and estimate cross-section regressions, pooled data, fixed effects and random effects models. The results indicate that the percentages A and I are positively related, with moderate intensity, showing statistically significant differences. We find that the variability of I doubles that of A, and that, in states where these measures exceed 25%, I tends to be greater than A; the opposite occurs for values below 25%. These results are robust and warn that the choice of one or another variable to characterize access to food can condition the conclusions obtained from their analysis. Until now, this circumstance was unknown, and was not taken into account in studies on the subject.